Ruined

Antigua was once the capital of Central America.   It is filled with Spanish Baroque architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  They say if you throw a stone in Antigua, you're likely to hit a church.  In 1717 and 1773, Antigua was hit with massive earthquakes that destroyed most of the town and caused the capital to be moved to what is now Guatemala City.  The thought was that the valley where Guatemala City lies would be safer (not true as GC was hit with a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 1976 that killed 23,000).  We did experience a small tremor while we were in Antigua, enough to make the lights sway.

Antigua is filled with ruins of churches from the earthquakes in the 1700s.  They are amazing to walk around, however I didn't think the boys would be that interested in them.  I underestimated them because they said it was one of the favorite things of the trip.  They loved climbing around the ruins.